Later in the story, the protagonist discovers that the "friend" uses the connections he has in the police with corrupt police officers and political connections in the Israeli Knesset, and that the man he uses is a very influential Knesset member in a right-wing party. A man whom the "Professor" recognized in Europe as the owner of a casino, all in order to gradually destroy the protagonist.
Will the satanic plot succeed?
And so it is in the book itself (p. 11 in the appendices to the plaintiff's affidavit):
"Yes, yes, Gospodin," the Russian exclaimed cheerfully, "I know that the whole sale of your land to friends is one big fraud. I know you're taking money from your good friends in Israel - even from your ex-spouse and her family who trusted you, the well-known lecturer - to buy land for them in Bulgaria, while you're actually stealing the money for your business in Bulgaria. You are betraying your friends and betraying your soul. But that's why I want you with us. You're a dead and thick traitor, but the people we want here are all traitors."
The villain is presented as a crook. And not just a "crook" who is dangerous to the public, but as a crook who is first and foremost dangerous to his friends. As a person who steals money from his acquaintances in fraudulent acts.
Thus below (p. 14 of the appendices to the plaintiff's affidavit):
Vasilevsky paused with pleasure before continuing: "And maybe we'll also pass on details about your little international criminal organization of stealing and selling antiquities. Yes, yes, we know about that too. We don't enjoy doing that, but we need your good services there."
In this description, the villain is presented as the owner of a "criminal organization" that deals with the theft of antiquities.
These examples are enough to illustrate the way the character is portrayed by the defendant - an international crook, a criminal who heads a criminal organization, who entices his close acquaintances, betrays them, and extracts money from them by false representations. Presenting a person in this way constitutes defamation. All the more so, this is how the plaintiff presented himself in this way.
- The claim of invasion of privacy
- The second tort claimed by the plaintiff is an infringement of privacy under the Protection of Privacy Law, 5741-1981 (hereinafter: the "Protection of Privacy Law").
The right to privacy is a constitutional right (section 7 of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty) and has long been recognized as "one of the freedoms that shape the character of the regime in Israel as a democratic regime, and it is one of the supreme rights that establish the dignity and liberty to which a person is entitled as a human being, as a value in itself" (Criminal Appeal 5026/97 Gilam v. State of Israel [published in Nevo] (June 13, 1999)).